The Experience of an Athlete and Student – João Correia,Captain of the Portuguese Rugby Union

By etavaresOn 31 March, 2010News Report / Profile | 2010Comments Off on The Experience of an Athlete and Student – João Correia,Captain of the Portuguese Rugby UnionNo tags

João Correia, the captain of the Portuguese national rugby union team, was a student at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL). In 2007 he was in the fifth year of medicine when the Portuguese team played for the first time in the World Cup, in France. The Portuguese team was also the first amateur team to participate in this event, and the FMUL alumnus was one of its most important members, achieving a high level status in sport.
After this, João Correia went back to his original club, GD Direito, Lisbon.

2. News@fmul: When did you finish the course? Where are you practising now? What is your specialty?
JC: I finished the course in June 2009, and at the moment I am doing my Family Medicine training Period at the Cova da Piedade Family Health Unit in Almada, as a part of my Common Year Internal Medicine Training.

3. News@fmul: When and how did you start studying at the FMUL?
JC: I started studying at the FMUL in 2003. I entered through the high level sports competitor system. Medicine had been a dream of mine since I was a child, but my marks were not high enough to get into the course, so I took advantage of the high level sports competitor system to try to enter again, I and did so.

4 News@fmul: For how long have you practised sport? How did rugby union appear in your life?
JC: I have practiced sports since as long as I can remember. Sport has always been a part of my life. Rugby, in particular, came along when I was 8 years old, but as the training sessions were in Lisbon and I live on the other side of the river I had to stop when I was a child. Later on, when I was 18, a rugby club was formed in Costa de Caparica and I decided to join, Since then I have played rugby at a high level of competition.

5. News@fmul: As a student at the FMUL, on such a demanding course, how did you manage to reconcile sports with your studies?
JC: It wasn’t easy. Not at all. As a club player it is easy to study and play rugby, because the training regime is not so heavy, but as I am in the Portuguese team, which I have captained since 2008, the volume of training is enormous, and the games are abroad. It is very difficult to organise journeys, training and games with studying, practical classes, work etc. But, as I usually say, I am lucky to be able to do what I enjoy. Like that it is easy to make the sacrifice.

6. News@fmul: Was a sport that is in itself physically demanding an advantage or an inconvenience for your studies?
JC: I think that sometimes it’s an inconvenience, because I am very tired, and the last thing I want to do is study. But, well… I also think, on the other hand, that it prepares me better to deal with the demands of a course like medicine, because we have to very demanding and maintain discipline, and in that aspect rugby has helped me a great deal.

7. News@fmul: You are still connected to rugby, and are the captain of the Portuguese team. How do you manage this and your professional life?
JC: It’s difficult…. But I’ve also been lucky because the professionals I have worked with understand my situation and support me a lot. Without their understanding it would be very difficult to manage. So I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those who have helped me reconcile the two things over the years.

8. News@fmul: Do you leave your white coat behind when you play or do you still have a doctor’s instinct on the pitch? Have you ever had to intervene in this area?
JC: When you are a doctor you never leave those instincts behind. We always have that sense of responsibility, of helping people out. And I’ve had to come to the aid of my team-mates on many occasions, ranging from sutures, bandages, medication, going with them to hospital, etc… This is because we don’t have a doctor at our training sessions, and so we improvise and I help whenever I can or when necessary.

9. News@fmul: The 2007 World Cup was a turning point for Portuguese Rugby Union; was it also for you? Did it change your sports life?
JC: Of course. It gave me a different view of rugby union in general, and in particular of the way the Portuguese now see this sport. The recognition that we received from people was fantastic, and we couldn’t remain indifferent. It changed my sports life in the sense that it increased our responsibility towards the sport and towards the Portuguese, which led us to train more often and harder, which in turn started to affect our other activities.

10.News@fmul: What do you think about university sport in Portugal? What is the situation in this aspect?
JC: I think that it is on the right track and that it has its place on the sports panorama. I think that sometimes it doesn’t have enough support and human resources. There are many students who haven’t taken up the sport, and university sport is the best way to start. There are many competent people who have fought hard to divulge it, and I think this fact is recognized in the universities.